Global Media Intelligence 2020: Ireland

Key Features

In most respects, Ireland’s media profile changed little from last year.

• In H1 2019, 95.9% of internet users in Ireland ages 16 to 64 owned a smartphone, according to GlobalWebIndex, while 81.4% owned a desktop or laptop. Those shares barely shifted in H1 2020, reaching 96.4% and 81.0%, respectively. Tablets also saw a marginal decline from 53.4% to 51.6%.
• Tablet ownership still correlated with higher income and rising age; however, among PC owners, those connections diminished. In fact, the greatest penetration of PCs this year was among respondents ages 16 to 24, at 85.1%. Predictably, smartphone ownership was almost uniformly high across all demographics.
• Larger screens still claim more media time than mobile phones. In H1 2020, respondents spent 3 hours, 12 minutes (3:12) each day on PCs and tablets, compared with 2:50 on mobile.
• Overall, penetration of print media was also broadly similar to 2019. Some 58.8% of respondents polled in H1 2020 read a print newspaper in the past month. That included more than two-thirds of those ages 45 to 64. A broadly similar age-related pattern emerged among print magazine readers. But unlike newspapers, magazines appeared to have lost reach, with readership dropping below 50%.
• Broadcast radio consumption rose by almost 3 percentage points in H1 2020. Nearly 82% of internet users listened to live radio programs during the prior month, spending an average 1:12 per day. As in 2019, penetration was above average among internet users in affluent and rural households and highest of all (over 91%) among 45- to 64-year-olds.
• By contrast, teens and young adults remain the driving force behind digital audio takeup. Just under 70% of respondents had streamed music, podcasts, or other digital audio content in the month prior to polling. But penetration among 16- to-24-year-olds (91.9%) was double that of the oldest age bracket (46.0%).